Working Out/ Exercise

I have several months of clean time now and I have decided to start a swimming program. I was a competetive swimmer in college, so I am setting a goal to compete in a master's swimming competition by December. I hope that this goal will keep me motivated. I find that it is VERY difficult to start an exercise program.

I have heard/read that exercise is a fantastic tool for addicts......the benefits are supposed to be incredible. I'm just wondering how many of you exercise regularly as part of your recovery.

I abused my body and mind for a long time and now I'm trying to take care of them. Hopefully, I'll follow through and become one of those 89-year-old guys who still swims a mile every day!!!!

One good thing about recovery is that you know you can do anything you set your mind to!

Peace,
Jer
Jer-Swimming is one of the best aerobic/anerobic execises you can do.I envy you because I get too bored with it. Running is my thing and in Houston we have a 3 mile park that keeps me interested enough.Early in the morning you might see 10 people.If you want a more social hit it gets crowded around 4.

This will be the goal you need to get off that last bit of Sub too.You will have so many endorphins working I doubt you have any mental fatigue or physical symptoms that a lot of people go through.I've heard this from several people who had an easier time.

One thing that running,surfing and working out give me is a way to turn off my MIND. I'm boredeline depressed and for years drugs filled that void...or made it worse.I do believe we can create our own good chemicals.
To Mrjer,yes thats a wonderful thing your doing,we need to get and keep areselves in shape. I am 49 and a former bodybuilder.I just had a hip resurfacing and i am starting slowly back working-out.One thing i used to start say my bench-press exercise with 135lbs for say 15reps and work up tp3x6 with405,all i can do now,mind you its 20yrs later is the 135lbs 3sets of 6 Anyway im off the pills john
Ya know....I participated in sports when I was younger, so I guess I just never noticed the benefits. In my 20s, I started feeling very "depressed." There is more to it, obviously, but I didn't experience the severe depression and anxiety until a few years after I became lazy. I actually swam for a division one college team.....you'd never know it given my abilities today. I am going to try to set some realistic goals and compere in some masters (older people) swimming competitions. I recently experimented with my sub dosage and dropped off for a couple days to see what would happen. The WD was not in full-effect, but the fatigue was unbelievable! I hope the swimming helps, like you are saying!

I notice that many people on this forum are active. It seems like a huge plus for recovery.

I'm gettin' there.
Jer
Jer,

I got sober when I was 34. My first exercise program, during the first year, consisted of curling frozen pizzas and ice creme to my mouth. I decided to get sober and then worry about my weight.

At about 2 or 3 years, sober and 40 lbs overweight, I found myself with some time on my hands and bought a white water kayak. I got into kayaking with about the same enthusiasm that I devoted to scoring and using drugs, which is to say I became totally obsessed. I traveled extensively on two continents for many years in search of the perfect wave . Hey, the alternative was to stay home and be responsible and that just didn't seem to be as much fun.

After about 8 or 9 years of kayaking, I retired to technical single track mountain biking and I did that like a mad banshee until I got sick with cancer. Even after the cancer, I returned to mountain biking and only backed off recently due to the price of gas. I have managed to lose 40 of the 50 lbs I gained during my health crisis, and at age 52, I must say that I feel great.

I am older now, and am happy to pump iron 50 minutes a session, three times a week week and run for a half hour in the park 2 or 3 times a week.

Fact is, exercise became one of two or three primary outlets for my spiritual life after I got sober. Class V whitewater kayaking certainly became a form or prayer, as did the Zen quality of descending a technical trail. Moreover, I found myself associating with different people who had a curious lack of interest in partying, preferring things like whitewater and rock climbing instead. It was a tight knit group and with them I found a sense of bonding that I missed out on during my drugging days.

My sense of it was that while I was drinking and drugging, I was in constant conflict between living up to the image of a life in which I did not fit and escaping that existence into my own private world with drugs. When I got sober, I realized that I had permission from HP, the universe, whatever, to do and be exactly the person I wished to become. In the 60s, we called this "finding ourselves," and I think that somewhere in those years, I did find myself. I have no regrets for the years that I could have spent in the office.

These days, I am happy to be out with the sun on me, listening to the birds sing as I chug along in the park, saying hello to the various regulars out there.

I love exercise as much or more as I ever loved drugs. Less of hangover though, and the health benefits are great. The social aspect helped to reintegrate me into the real world, and I remain close to this group of friends to this very day.

My thought on masters swimming would be to watch some You Tube videos of Michael Phelps and then get up and do it, One Day at a Time. Hey, if you are an addict, after about a month it will feel like crack to you.

Good luck,

August
Most important change for me was the decison to treat my body like it deserved after abusing the crap out of it for 30 years.

Its amazing exercise and proper diet. Good for you--

I've got a Diamondback Topanga with frontal rock shocks I'll sell ya.LOL300.00


I think that's the payoff for me.Realizing the asault I put my physical body through has whats given me the incentive to prove I can still do about anything.
Also Jer,it's still about fun.I'm probably going to have a s***ty run this morning because I ate half a pizza last night[BTW...............never buy a whole wheat crust.It taste like compost]You might as well have the real deal.

It's like August said.It's just another part of the whole picture.You just keep doing it.What a planet God gave us! I will still see a 500 year old Magnolia and realize what a speck I am.
I have a Gary Fisher Sugar and a Santa Cruz Superlight. Both are maxed out, both are great bikes, much better than the motor that propels them. Typical over compensation by the guy with more money than skill.

The food thing really hit home. It takes a while to see the connection between eating well and living a sober life. It is a more serious issue to me in this post cancer world that I live in, but for all of us, I think how we look at food says a lot about how we view ourselves.
Broad spectrum amino acids.During that first year they can help with PAWS about 50%.IMO

Water is the next best thing.[it's free too]So many people get caught up in these no carb diet phases but that's what gives you natural energy.I was trying to get ripped one year and cut out fruits,veggies,breads.It worked but I walked around in a funk,no energy and just felt like s***.I couldn't even run a mile.

Eat what's in season too.Don't buy watermelon in December and expect anything tasting remotely like melon.
Tim, what is PAWS?

I have moved toward local grown food, and we are trying diligently to avoid high fructose corn syrup, which seems to show up in most processed foods these days. The more you learn about this stuff, the more there is to learn. Water is probably the best fluid you can drink, and it is all that I drink if you ignore the pot of coffee each day. Progress, not perfection.

One dark side to the exercise thing is that I have fallen prey to overtraining a few times in my life. Usually comes from trying to take it to the next level and that often involved two hours of gym time four times a week to get the kind of strength and explosive power to stay alive in the wild. I have no regrets, but I do know that over training can tax those neuro-receptors in the same manner that drugs do. Common symptoms of over training include depression and a sense of low self esteem.

That entire concept of balance comes back into play, and it always takes me longer than it should to sometimes recognize the need to back off for a week or two and give it a rest. It just goes against my instinct, or did. I am now at the age where I have missed my shot at the Olympics and just have to live with that.
Just do it Jer,
Your body and your mind will thank you for the effort. Swimming is excellent for you...
August-PAWS is post acute withdrawl syndrome.Not everyone goes through it either.Also,simply having a couple of bad days doesn't mean you're having it either.Some people never get it.

You will recognize when you have it.Wanting to use,geting angry over really stupid things,picking apart things people say at meetings,the neighbor's hedge was too high anyway. etc.Why shouldn't I be able to have one Vicodin?All this money I spent surely justifies that?????

That's why exercise is good.It keeps those endorphins in high gear.I think we've seriously messed up our cognitive skills.Exercise makes us feel good about ourselves.It's just one more arsenal we have against"stinking thinking".

Also,exercise doesn't mean you have to do Mt.Everest.I think you need to just find something that helps keep a balance between body and mind.Rollerblade,walk,garden,start a hobby.I would listen to these people at meetings say I don't want to start the gym because I'll get too muscle bound.
Drinking 10 cups of bad coffee and smoking 2 packs of cigarettes will certainly help you achieve that goal.

Eating fresh fruits,vegetables,nuts and water and taking a mile walk each morning will change your attitude within a week.
You will recognize when you have it.Wanting to use,geting angry over really stupid things,picking apart things people say at meetings,the neighbor's hedge was too high anyway. etc.Why shouldn't I be able to have one Vicodin?All this money I spent surely justifies that?????


Oh...yeah---on any given day I can get that. It was really bad for me for about three months coming off the patches, but to be honest, I can wake up just about any morning, and unless I do the things I need to do to stay sober, I can regress to a 15 year old pimply faced kid in a man's body, expecting the world to turn around me.

I have to say, though, exercise, sports, and outdoor adventure have made all the difference for me. Those things and others that I found in sobriety have made my life a great adventure, well worth the struggle of getting clean and staying sober.
Exercise has been the top contributor to my recovery. I do not go to meetings so keeping my mind and body sharp has been a real Godsend. I have to go under the knife next week so will be out of my routine for 3-6 months. all that said, i have a new challenge and that will be my recovery from rotator cuff surgery. That will fuel my hyper-motivated spirit with something positive to attain.

I had severe PAWS for the first three months of my pain pill recovery and really stepped up the exercise and supplements to get me through it. I had relapsed so many times in the past right at around the three month mark, that i decided to take a different approach and this time my efforts paid off. It was amazing how well i felt after about 5 months...
Well, I got to the pool twice this week so far. The first day, I really overdid it! I am amzed how sore I got the next day. I felt a little sad about just how far I have fallen! I felt great for the first 50 yards.......it almost seemed like I never stopped training, but then..........by the time I was done, I literally thought I would vommit. I am prepared to take it slow now. Since I've been sober, it is much easier for me to think long-term........to have patience.

Tim,
What amino acids do you suggest?

Bikeman,
Nice to see your posts. Good luck with your surgery and recovery. My band has been doing well. I run into many people in recovery who think I'm nuts for playing out in clubs every week, but it isn't difficult. We usually play three sets, so I am not really hanging out. I need to play. Also, I play much better sober!

Jer
The way I see is buy an inexpensive one like at Walgreens.cheap.It should last 30 day.take it with another amino called SAM-e.Take them on a emptey stomach' I had tons of energee.Jer,I have to he honest with you about this.You might want to ask you're Sub doctor. I'm not a chemist but I know people who mix with no ill effects.
Good luck
JER,

Nice to see you out playing music. That will your raise spirits and create a groove for all those around you. Good for you..
Screw those nuts who said you shouldn't go to clubs and play music. They don't get it and never will. You cannot go through life with your head buried in the sand...